Recaps

Qi Shiyun explained how the Chosen of Heaven Lineage advanced through dangerous political upheaval and tasked Lianshan Xin with investigating the Demon Cult’s roots in White Deer Grotto Academy. She also revealed that marrying a hidden princess in Jiangzhou could speed his cultivation, while killing her would bring catastrophic consequences.

• Lianshan Xin asked Qi Shiyun for a shortcut to breakthrough, and she explained that the lineage cultivated faster by involving itself in major struggles and court upheavals.
• Qi Shiyun said replacing the Jiangzhou Governor would not be enough for her next breakthrough and identified Jiangzhou’s officialdom and martial world as her true concerns.
• Qi Shiyun ordered Lianshan Xin to investigate the Demon Cult’s Thousand Faces network hidden within White Deer Grotto Academy.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that marrying a princess born with the dynasty’s providence could help him reach Grandmaster, and revealed that a hidden princess was believed to be in Jiangzhou.
• Lianshan Xin asked whether killing the princess could advance him even faster, and Qi Shiyun warned that it might bring him to True Intent Realm but would lead to the extermination of all nine branches of his clan.

Lianshan Xin questioned Qi Shiyun about the princess and learned more about the emperor’s past before leaving to visit Qi Wenbin and Dai Yueying. Qi Wenbin revealed evidence suggesting Dai Yueying was connected to the Demon Cult, leaving Lianshan Xin wondering whether his teacher was a cult follower.

• Lianshan Xin joked about marrying and killing the princess, and Qi Shiyun warned him that the plan could bring disaster upon his Nine Clans.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that the emperor had once seduced a Demon Cult enchantress while roaming the martial world.
• Lianshan Xin left the cultivation chamber after an hour and went to see Qi Wenbin before classes began at the White Deer Grotto Academy.
• Qi Wenbin admitted Dai Yueying had evaded his surveillance but showed Lianshan Xin a Maitreya Buddha statue he had found in her home.
• Du Jiu explained that the Demon Cult used Maitreya worship to conceal its followers, and Qi Wenbin described the court’s covert investigations into Maitreya worship.
• Lianshan Xin wondered whether Dai Yueying was a Demon Cult follower and whether other cultists were close to him.

Lianshan Xin and Du Jiu searched the Dai residence and confirmed that Teacher Dai had ties to the Demon Cult after uncovering a hidden message. The letter revealed the cult’s harsh treatment of Dai Yongzhen and warned him to protect Yueying.

• Lianshan Xin agreed to inspect the Dai residence with Qi Wenbin and Du Jiu, and they decided not to notify the others.
• Lianshan Xin, Qi Wenbin, and Du Jiu found that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying were both away and searched the rear courtyard.
• Du Jiu found blank paper in Teacher Dai’s bedroom and explained that its secret writing could be revealed by heating it.
• Du Jiu roasted the paper and uncovered a letter from the Demon Cult criticizing Dai Yongzhen for complaining about his delayed allowance and warning him to take care of Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin concluded that he had been right to seek advancement and riches through the Imperial Court rather than the Demon Cult.

Lianshan Xin learned that Teacher Dai belonged to the faction of Blood Guanyin, a Demon Cult elder, and suspected that Dai Yueying was connected to her. He resolved to turn the danger surrounding him into a chance to advance his cultivation and change his fate.

• Lianshan Xin discussed Teacher Dai's faith in the Demon Cult with Du Jiu, who explained that its followers worshipped Maitreya and feared death little.
• Qi Wenbin found a portrait of a woman in red in the cellar, and Du Jiu identified her as Blood Guanyin, one of the Demon Cult's Four Great Elders.
• Du Jiu described Blood Guanyin's power and beauty, while Lianshan Xin reasoned that Teacher Dai had admired her and that Dai Yueying might be connected to her.
• Lianshan Xin recalled that Dai Yueying's letter had asked someone to care for her, but admitted he had no proof for his suspicions.
• Lianshan Xin decided that the trouble could become an opportunity to improve his standing and cultivation, and resolved to seize the chance to change his fate.

Lianshan Xin confronted his former teacher Dai Yongzhen, exposed how the Demon Cult’s leaders hoarded wealth while ordinary disciples went unpaid, and broke Dai’s faith in the cult. Lianshan Xin’s talent then revealed that Dai had once volunteered to raise a child for the feared Blood Guanyin, who spared him after he pleaded for one look from her.

• Lianshan Xin, Du Jiu, and Qi Wenbin confronted Dai Yongzhen at his home, and Lianshan Xin urged his former teacher to surrender.
• Dai Yongzhen admitted he served the Demon Cult and defended its cause, while Lianshan Xin mocked his unpaid allowance and his defiant pride.
• Lianshan Xin told Dai that the Qu Family’s wealth showed the Demon Cult’s leaders were prospering while ordinary disciples tightened their belts.
• Dai Yongzhen’s faith faltered as he realized the cult’s higher-ups had likely deceived him about their finances.
• Lianshan Xin’s talent revealed Dai kneeling before Blood Guanyin, offering to raise her child and protect her in exchange for a single look.

Lianshan Xin pressured Dai Yongzhen into revealing five names in Blood Guanyin's chain of contacts, including Jiang Haoran, whom Lianshan Xin wanted to expose for harming a commoner's child. Dai Yongzhen handed over the list and died after Lianshan Xin told him he could die.

• Lianshan Xin and his allies warned that Blood Guanyin would kill anyone below the Dharma Form Realm who learned of her portrait, then Lianshan Xin threatened Dai Yongzhen through Dai Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin promised to protect Dai Yueying if Dai Yongzhen named his contacts, and Dai Yongzhen agreed to write down what he knew.
• Lianshan Xin insisted that Dai Yongzhen include Jiang Haoran, explaining that the governor's son had injured a seven-year-old boy with his horse and escaped meaningful punishment.
• Dai Yongzhen wrote down five names, including Jiang Haoran, and praised Lianshan Xin's upright character before handing him the list.
• Lianshan Xin asked whether the Demon Cult Leader, Peacock Wisdom King, was a man or a woman; Dai Yongzhen said he was a man, and Lianshan Xin told his former teacher he could die.

Lianshan Xin let Dai Yongzhen choose his own death and then confronted Dai Yueying after learning her father was dead. He discovered that she had joined the Demon Cult under Thousand Faces, leaving her loyalties and her strange attraction to him unresolved.

• Lianshan Xin offered Dai Yongzhen the chance to take his own life, and Dai Yongzhen asked him to care for Dai Yueying.
• Du Jiu told Qi Wenbin to trust Lianshan Xin’s judgment, and the two restrained Dai Yueying when she returned home.
• Qi Wenbin tossed Dai Yueying into Lianshan Xin’s arms, and Lianshan Xin brought her inside to see her dead father.
• Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying and concluded that she belonged to the Demon Cult and knew about her alluring constitution.
• Lianshan Xin threatened Dai Yueying until she admitted that Thousand Faces was her master, then she unexpectedly asked him to squeeze her neck again.

After Dai Yueying accepted her father's death and used her alluring constitution to plead for her life, Lianshan Xin weighed the risks of killing her against the danger of keeping her alive. She offered herself as his slave and cultivation aid, but her extreme submission only made him more wary of what she might do if she ever gained the upper hand.

• Lianshan Xin reminded Dai Yueying that he had driven her father to his death, but she thanked him for leaving her father’s corpse intact after his identity as a Demon Cult agent was exposed.
• Lianshan Xin considered the political risks of killing Dai Yueying and the danger of trusting her if he spared her.
• Lianshan Xin tested Dai Yueying’s illness by choking and slapping her, and she said the pleasure outweighed the pain because of her constitution.
• Dai Yueying explained that her master believed her constitution could help someone of Lianshan Xin’s cultivation level improve, and she begged him not to kill her.
• Dai Yueying offered to become Lianshan Xin’s slave and said he was the first man she had loved, but Lianshan Xin grew colder and questioned what would happen if she later turned the tables on him.

Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying about her origins and suspected that Blood Guanyin was her mother, possibly making her a princess of Great Yu. After a Demon Cult disciple was caught trying to implicate Lianshan Xin’s father, Xin decided Dai Yueying had crossed his line and killed her.

• Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying about her mother and concluded that Blood Guanyin might be her birth mother.
• Dai Yueying offered to submit to Lianshan Xin, take poison, cut ties with her father, and even bear Xin a child to prove her loyalty.
• Du Jiu reported that their men had caught an injured Demon Cult disciple seeking treatment from Lianshan Xin’s father, apparently at a woman’s instruction.
• Lianshan Xin questioned the disciple, ordered him killed, and returned to Dai Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin told Dai Yueying to help him cultivate, then stabbed her in the heart and slit her throat.

After killing Dai Yueying, Lianshan Xin discovered that his true qi was transforming into the dangerous Dragon-Slaying True Intent and prepared to conceal the killing while advancing his cultivation. Meanwhile, Qi Shiyun unexpectedly gained a surge of fortune and glimpsed a breakthrough into the Domain Realm, unaware that Lianshan Xin had caused it.

• Lianshan Xin left Dai Yueying and Teacher Dai's bodies behind and decided to enter secluded cultivation to master Dragon-Slaying True Intent.
• Lianshan Xin ordered Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin to dissolve the bodies and told them not to report the matter through the usual chain of command.
• Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin obeyed Lianshan Xin and were awed by the sharp aura leaking from him.
• Qi Shiyun felt her fortune surge, saw through the barriers to the Domain Realm, and wondered which of her Chosen One Sons of Heaven had helped her.
• Heavenly Sword noticed Qi Shiyun's sudden signs of a breakthrough and marveled at her potential.

After killing Dai Yueying, Lianshan Xin returned home to master the growing Dragon-Slaying True Intent and broke through toward the true intent realm. He discovered that the Dragon Aiders lineage had once been the more defiant Dragon Subjugation Lineage, which subdued the true dragons of the mortal world.

• Lianshan Xin worried about how Qi Shiyun would react to Dai Yueying's death and decided she had reason to keep the killing secret.
• Lianshan Xin confirmed that Dai Yueying and Dai Yongzhen had dissolved in water, then rushed home to cultivate the Dragon-Slaying True Intent.
• Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun saw Lianshan Xin hurry into his room and wondered whether he was breaking through to the true intent realm.
• Lianshan Xin mastered the power enough to project true qi as a dragon and trap it in his palm.
• Lianshan Xin realized that Dai Yueying's death had opened a new path of cultivation and that Qi Shiyun's version of the lineage's history was incomplete.
• Lianshan Xin learned that the original lineage was called Dragon Subjugation and had subdued the true dragons of the mortal world.

Lianshan Xin mastered the Dragon Subduers Immortal Art and realized that advancing further would require him to keep slaying dragons, despite the danger to his family. He resolved to hide his true inheritance, join the Nine Heavens, and pursue his parents’ family histories and debts of gratitude and vengeance.

• Lianshan Xin commanded a divine dragon to appear and disperse, confirming his mastery of the true Dragon Subduers Immortal Art.
• Lianshan Xin recognized that his Dragon-Slaying true intent required him to keep slaying dragons, though the Great Yu Immortal Dynasty made that path dangerous.
• Lianshan Xin considered the scattered survivors of the He Clan and the nameless Wandering Healer who had saved his father, resolving to investigate both histories.
• Lianshan Xin decided to conceal his inheritance within the Nine Heavens, outwardly cultivate the Dragon Aiders lineage, and wait for a chance to slay another dragon.
• Lianshan Xin left seclusion and reassured He Miaojun and Lianshan Jingcheng that he had only reached the peak of Qi Condensation, half a step from True Intent.

Lianshan Xin told his parents that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying had been exposed as Demon Cult fiends and warned them to stay alert. After boasting about his cultivation and assuring them the Nine Heavens could protect them, he left Spring Revival Hall and spotted a familiar figure tied to his family’s past.

• Lianshan Jingcheng worried that Lianshan Xin’s rapid cultivation would damage his foundation, but Lianshan Xin insisted his training under the Celestial Master and Third-Place Qi made him exceptional.
• Lianshan Xin told He Miaojun and Lianshan Jingcheng that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying had been exposed as Demon Cult fiends and had committed suicide.
• Lianshan Xin warned his parents that the Demon Cult might target their family and urged them to be vigilant around visitors and patients.
• He Miaojun worried about Lianshan Xin’s safety, but he boasted that ordinary Demon Cult disciples could not defeat him, prompting her to send him away.
• Lianshan Xin left Spring Revival Hall and stopped when he saw a familiar figure who had burdened his family for more than a decade.

Lianshan Xin received Huang Jingji’s apology and gifts after becoming a Nine Heavens member, then decided to use the money to host free banquets for the neighbors. He left Lianshan Jingcheng touched but still protesting that he and his wife had not lived hard lives.

• Huang Jingji knelt outside the Spring Revival Hall, thanked Lianshan Xin for saving him, and apologized for his past offenses.
• Lianshan Xin reassured Huang Jingji that President Qu had paid for his crimes and that he held no grudge over the Thorn Gang’s protection payments.
• Lianshan Xin asked Lianshan Jingcheng whether he wanted to forgive Huang Jingji, and Lianshan Jingcheng said he bore no resentment.
• Lianshan Xin refused to accept Huang Jingji’s gifts personally and proposed using them to fund two days of open banquets for the neighbors.
• Lianshan Xin urged Lianshan Jingcheng to enjoy the family’s improved fortune, while Lianshan Jingcheng insisted that he and his wife had not suffered.

Lianshan Xin accepted Huang Jingji’s invitation to visit the Thorn Gang after Huang offered a Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus and sought help with his household troubles. Seeing the gang as a possible foothold in Jiangzhou, Lianshan Xin set out with Huang for the gang’s headquarters.

• Huang Jingji gave Lianshan Jingcheng a gift and asked Lianshan Xin to visit the Thorn Gang on behalf of the Golden Scale Alliance’s Helmsman.
• Huang Jingji explained that his wife was the Helmsman’s daughter and that he had angered his father-in-law by keeping a mistress who had borne him a son.
• Huang Jingji offered Lianshan Xin a fifty-year-old Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus and pledged to follow him in exchange for help with his domestic troubles.
• Lianshan Xin considered the Thorn Gang a potential foothold for advancing his plans in Jiangzhou.
• Lianshan Xin told Ninth Brother to notify the academy and agreed to go with Huang Jingji to the Thorn Gang Headquarters.

Lianshan Xin left with Huang Jingji after using the Nine Heavens’ hidden agents to impress and warn him. Back at home, Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun discussed their son’s youthful ambition and discovered Huang Jingji had some history with Lianshan Jingcheng, while neighbors praised the family over Lianshan Xin’s recommendation to White Deer Grotto Academy.

• Lianshan Xin asked Huang Jingji about his ties to Kong Liulang and considered Huang’s attempt to serve multiple sides as he pursued the Golden Scale Alliance and the Kong Family.
• Du Jiu summoned a disguised Nine Heavens member, showing Huang Jingji how thoroughly the group could conceal its agents.
• Lianshan Xin followed Huang Jingji out, while Lianshan Jingcheng watched him with concern and He Miaojun asked what was wrong.
• Lianshan Jingcheng told He Miaojun that Huang Jingji had once bullied him, and He Miaojun was stunned.
• Neighbors congratulated Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun on Lianshan Xin’s recommendation to White Deer Grotto Academy, and the couple enjoyed the praise.

Lianshan Xin accompanied Huang Jingji to the Thorn Gang Headquarters, where Huang sought his wife Luo Panlan’s forgiveness and help separating from the Kong Family. As Lianshan Xin’s talent revealed a private conversation, he discovered that Huang’s cultivation technique had made him sterile and that Luo Panlan had concealed the truth.

• Huang Jingji told Lianshan Xin that Kong Sanlang had trapped him with a honey trap and that he suspected Kong Sanlang was targeting the Golden Scale Alliance.
• Huang Jingji explained that the Golden Scale Alliance was expanding beyond Jiangzhou and admitted he wanted to cut ties with the Kong Family amid suspicions of its connection to the Demon Cult.
• Lianshan Xin asked about Kong Ningyuan’s standing, and Huang Jingji said Kong Ningyuan had reconciled with his father and retained his position in the Kong Family.
• Huang Jingji brought Lianshan Xin to the Thorn Gang Headquarters and confessed to Luo Panlan that he had fathered a son with another woman.
• Lianshan Xin’s talent showed him Luo Panlan telling Wei Rong that Huang Jingji’s cultivation technique had made him sterile, though Huang did not know it and she had borne him two daughters.

Lianshan Xin settled the dispute between Luo Panlan and Huang Jingji by guaranteeing the Thorn Gang would not pass to Huang Jingji’s illegitimate child, then accompanied Huang Jingji to end his affair. Before he left, Luo Panlan warned him that Zeng Ningbing, a famous young martial artist, had entered the White Deer Grotto Academy and would become his fellow student.

• Wei Rong angrily confronted Luo Panlan about seeing other men, but she pointed out that he was not her husband.
• Luo Panlan demanded that Huang Jingji cut ties with the woman carrying his child, and Lianshan Xin assured her the child would not inherit the Thorn Gang.
• Huang Jingji agreed to end the affair and promised to make the Spring Revival Hall the Thorn Gang’s designated clinic.
• Lianshan Xin offered to accompany Huang Jingji to the other residence, while Luo Panlan told him Zeng Ningbing had passed the White Deer Grotto Academy entrance examination.

Lianshan Xin learned that Zeng Ningbing blamed him for taking the White Deer Grotto Academy nomination slot intended for her, then dismissed Luo Panlan’s attempt to intimidate him. He brought Huang Jingji to Lianshan Jingcheng for an examination, which revealed that Huang had been infertile for ten years despite having many descendants.

• Luo Panlan told Lianshan Xin that Kong Ningyuan had reassigned the Kong Family’s nomination slot to him, angering Zeng Ningbing, who believed he had taken it from her.
• Lianshan Xin responded to Luo Panlan’s warnings about Zeng Ningbing’s cultivation and left the Thorn Gang with Huang Jingji.
• Lianshan Xin questioned Huang Jingji’s confidence in his bedroom skills and decided to take him to Lianshan Jingcheng for an examination.
• Lianshan Jingcheng examined Huang Jingji and concluded that his cultivation technique had likely made him infertile ten years earlier.
• Lianshan Xin reassured Huang Jingji that, although he could not father children, he already had a house full of children and grandchildren.

Lianshan Jingcheng diagnosed Huang Jingji’s infertility as damage caused by his cultivation technique, and Huang Jingji sought Lianshan Xin’s help to get revenge on the Golden Scale Alliance and Kong Sanlang. Lianshan Xin promised to obtain a suitable technique and help him recover through Nine Heavens, while Huang Jingji agreed to remain undercover and wait for his chance.

• Lianshan Jingcheng told Huang Jingji that his damaged kidney essence could recover only if he changed to a sufficiently powerful technique that replenished primordial yang.
• Huang Jingji realized that the Golden Scale Alliance and the Kong Family had exploited and humiliated him, and he vowed to take revenge on them.
• Huang Jingji asked Lianshan Xin for a cultivation technique and pledged his life in return; Lianshan Xin offered to seek one through Nine Heavens.
• Lianshan Xin urged Huang Jingji to keep playing his role in the Golden Scale Alliance and promised to leave his enemies to him if the opportunity came.
• Lianshan Jingcheng said Huang Jingji needed regular treatment and a Returning Essence Pill refined by the Celestial Master, leaving Lianshan Xin to help secure both.

Lianshan Xin argued with Lianshan Jingcheng about medicine and the Heavenly Physician, then left Spring Revival Hall determined to work harder. His parents discussed his ambition and their wish to protect him, while news arrived that Qi Shiyun was breaking through and might expose a secret.

• Lianshan Xin asked whether Lianshan Jingcheng had deliberately used Huang Jingji’s treatment to keep him under control, but his father denied it.
• Lianshan Jingcheng scolded Lianshan Xin for neglecting proper medicine and urged him to learn from the Heavenly Physician, but Lianshan Xin rejected the comparison.
• Lianshan Xin gave up hoping that his family was secretly wealthy and left Spring Revival Hall to work harder.
• He Miaojun worried that her illness had caused Lianshan Xin’s ambition, and Lianshan Jingcheng agreed that they should support and protect him.
• Lianshan Xin received word that Qi Shiyun was breaking through and feared that a secret would soon be revealed.

Heavenly Sword told Lianshan Xin that Qi Shiyun had cultivated ninety-one Chosen One Sons of Heaven and explained the deadly history of their lineage. He then revealed that the Golden Scale Alliance expanded after the emperor urged the prominent Second Prince to strive harder because the Crown Prince was often ill.

• Heavenly Sword told Lianshan Xin that Qi Shiyun's advancement probably had nothing to do with him and that he was her ninety-first Chosen One Son of Heaven.
• Heavenly Sword described how thirty-five members of Lianshan Xin's lineage had died, leaving Qi Shiyun as its only surviving seedling and putting her in danger.
• Lianshan Xin decided he needed to strengthen himself quickly and asked Heavenly Sword about the Golden Scale Alliance and its ties to the Demon Cult.
• Heavenly Sword explained that Consort Shu was the Jiangzhou Governor's elder sister and that her son, the Second Prince, outshone the Crown Prince in ability and prominence.
• Heavenly Sword told Lianshan Xin that the Golden Scale Alliance began expanding aggressively after the emperor said the often-ill Crown Prince meant the Second Prince should strive harder.

Lianshan Xin discussed the Golden Scale Alliance and the Second Prince with the Heavenly Sword, then learned how the Heavenly Sword had dealt with a princess who pursued him. The Heavenly Sword warned Lianshan Xin to avoid acting rashly, though his own story suggested he had not always done so.

• Lianshan Xin explained that he pitied the Second Prince, who had been forced into the struggle for the throne by the emperor’s words.
• Lianshan Xin said he intended to deal with the Golden Scale Alliance because Zeng Ningbing might provoke him, but the Heavenly Sword warned him that she was the Second Prince’s beloved confidante.
• The Heavenly Sword told Lianshan Xin that Qi Shiyun had killed the Crown Prince’s retainer because the Crown Prince had tried to kill her after his sweetheart fell for her while she was disguised as a man.
• Lianshan Xin asked what he should do if the Golden Scale Alliance was colluding with the Demon Cult, and the Heavenly Sword said they should be killed if the collusion was genuine.
• The Heavenly Sword recounted how a princess pursued him and threatened his wife, so he made the princess blind and became the Heavenly Sword.

Lianshan Xin learned from the Heavenly Sword about the Nine Heavens’ investigation into the Golden Scale Alliance and Thousand Faces. He boldly suspected that the mystery surrounding Thousand Faces was tied to the struggle between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, and resolved that the Nine Heavens must act.

• Lianshan Xin praised the Heavenly Sword and set a goal of reaching the top ten of the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• The Heavenly Sword tasked Lianshan Xin with uncovering the Great Grandmaster behind the Golden Scale Alliance, who had rescued Thousand Faces and broken his sword.
• The Heavenly Sword revealed that an unknown person had sent the Nine Heavens a letter exposing Thousand Faces at White Deer Grotto Academy.
• Lianshan Xin speculated that the Jiangzhou Governor, the Second Prince, or the Crown Prince might be connected to Thousand Faces and the Golden Scale Alliance.
• The Heavenly Sword cautioned Lianshan Xin not to draw conclusions without evidence, while Lianshan Xin decided the Nine Heavens had to resist being used in the princes’ conflict.

Lianshan Xin discussed evidence for the Chosen of Heaven lineage’s involvement in the struggle for the throne with Zhang A-Niu, who revealed his humble beginnings and explained Qi Shiyun’s prospects. Zhang A-Niu warned that young, hot-blooded heirs from the Nine Heavens were coming to Jiangzhou, leaving Lianshan Xin with little time to prepare.

• Lianshan Xin promised Zhang A-Niu he would gather solid evidence against the Chosen of Heaven lineage and asked his superior’s name.
• Zhang A-Niu told Lianshan Xin that he had begun as a cowherd, learned sword arts from dying martial artists, and was named Zhang A-Niu.
• Zhang A-Niu explained that Qi Shiyun would enter the domain realm and pursue Great Grandmaster after breaking through, then compared her talent with his own.
• Zhang A-Niu said a person’s strength, battle achievements, and talent could outweigh bloodline, and Lianshan Xin agreed that he needed to establish his value.
• Zhang A-Niu revealed that the Imperial Court and Nine Heavens were sending young, hot-blooded heirs to support him and warned Lianshan Xin that his time was running out.